Lotus Cars Managing Director Matt Windle talks about the debut of the new hyper-SUV Lotus Eletre.
video transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] – Well, it’s not just the Fords and GMs or even Teslas of the world getting into electric vehicles. So are the high-end supercar manufacturers. And Lotus is one of them. The company is just introducing its new hyper SUV called the Lotus Electra. Now let’s talk more about that with a Lotus executive. This is Matt Windle. He joins us to talk about it, as does our Pras Subramanian. Matt, that’s called Hyper-SUV, this new electric SUV. Admittedly not a car person, what makes it a hyper SUV? What are some of the characteristics that give it this designation? MATT WINDLE: There are a couple of elements to that. The performance is one. That would take the car from zero to 60 km/h in under three seconds. It also has hypercharge. So fast charging on a 350 kilowatt charger. But also his looks. It is based on our hypercar Evija. And some of that DNA of the design language came through too. PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey, Matt. Pras here. Therefore, Lotus customers are traditionally focused on sports cars. They want that really performance-oriented kind of vehicle. That’s why they come to Lotus. And what do your customers tell you? Do they want an SUV, let alone an EV SUV? MATT WINDLE: They do. And we did a lot of market research before hitting the road with this car. And it’s a lifestyle car. We want to release a range of lifestyle cars to complement what we have in the sports car and hypercar space. And we believe the time has come for this vehicle. The EV market is growing rapidly, not just now because of gas prices, but for a number of years. – Matt, do you already know what the price of this vehicle will be? MATT WINDLE: So in the UK it will start at under £100,000. – Oh, so– PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey, Matt, so part of the– – Go ahead. PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I’m sorry Julie. So, Matt, part of the plan for you guys is a full EV roadmap. I believe by 2026 you will have three more electric vehicles, a sedan, a sports car and another SUV. Tell us about this segmentation. Why do you think this will work for Lotus in the future? MATT WINDLE: Those are popular segments. They are growing segments. Bigger cars also appeal to the Chinese market and they appeal to the American market. And these are areas where we see a large portion of sales. And as I said, we want a car for every stage of life. Whether you have the sports car at the start and fall back on it later when you have the family and need to move things, you also have the option with Lotus. PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Right. So you provide all these options for your customers in the future. And part of that is a big investment, I think, on the part of the company to make these cars. And I know that you use some kind of common platform for the electric vehicles. But part of that big investment came from Geely, the new owner of Lotus in a few years. Tell us about this relationship. And does Lotus finally have the money and resources it needs to move forward down this path? MATT WINDLE: We do. And I think Geely has been incredibly supportive of us as our controlling shareholders. And the plan was there. I think they have proven what they have done with Volvo and Polestar. And that’s the way we’re going too. So it’s a very exciting time for us. We have three new cars that will go into production in the next six months. And then, as you say, we’re going to launch three more over the next four years. So there is a lot going on here. – Lotus, as you say, owned by Geely, as we mentioned, a Chinese company, but has a long heritage in the UK, although still having their headquarters and part of their manufacturing there. As far as I know, the new car will be made in China. How do you determine what else is made in the UK and what is made in China and how those supply chains work? MATT WINDLE: So we want the sports cars to remain at the heart of the brand that we mentioned earlier. You are very important to us. So they are made in the UK. So we are committed to sports car construction here. And you can see the image in a mirror behind me that over the past few years we’ve invested $100 million in this site to build a semi-automated factory here. And we have decided that the lifestyle vehicles will be produced in China. Given the growth we have and the volume targets we have, we had to split manufacturing locations. PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Hey, Matt. One last question here. I want to come back to the Emira, the gas-powered sports car. Saw this in New York late last year, looked pretty cool. I was curious to see how things would go in relation to the international launch of this car. How soon will we see it in the States? And will we see a possible hybrid or EV version of this car in the future? MATT WINDLE: So we met in New York, didn’t we, sir. It was nice. But the rollout is going well. Production has started. We will start supplying customers very soon in the summer. It will be later this year that we will be taking the cars to the States for the homologation that we have to do. And right now we are planning to only do this as an ICE car. There are two engine options. And then the next sports car from us will be purely electric. And that has already started down in the design studio. And I’m really looking forward to the car. – Well I look forward to seeing these cars on the road even though I can’t afford one myself to be honest Matt. Thank you for being here. Matt Windle, Managing Director of Lotus Cars, and our Pras Subramanian, covering cars for us. Thank you both. Am grateful.